honey bee on crocus

Here's a sight I've never seen before. A honeybee on St Patrick's Day! I think this is a sign of a good season coming :)

Honeybees usually don't show up in my yard 'til late June (post). But here it is only March! - not even Spring yet - and a beautiful honeybee as fat as can bee is loaded down with crocus pollen. Maybe he's from Joan's hives, which are up on her second story deck a couple blocks from me. I'm so glad they've made it through the winter.

Joan had concerns last year year that her bees would not survive the winter, since last summer was so rainy and cool and the bees stored very little honey.

Joan is going to set up a honey CSA in Belmont this year, hopefully near the community gardens to help with pollination there. The hive locations have not been set yet. It's a lengthy procedure to go through the committees and approvals needed.

My husband spotted this article in today's Boston Globe: New York city has approved beekeeping! Awesome! Its the thing to do now that Michelle has a hive on the South Lawn...